Meg led Kate over to the counter. “Come on, I think you could do with some more pastries to balance out that wine.”
“Nate and Tamara would make a lovely couple,” Kate muttered as she followed Meg. “Then it would just be me left.”
Nate went cold. Had everyone been talking about him and Tamara? What did they know? He wasn’t sure who else had heard Kate’s comment, but he hoped Tamara hadn’t. Suddenly, the room felt too small for him, and he faked checking his phone, giving him an excuse to go outside. There, in the growing dark, he leaned against the wall and tried to relax. He needed to find a way to ground himself when the world, and everyone in it, seemed to be throwing him off-kilter. Only the pressure of a small form against his legs told him that he wasn’t alone.
“Hey, Furface,” Nate said, reaching down to stroke the dog’s fur. “You’re spending a lot of time around here, aren’t you? Especially for a dog who doesn’t actually belong to Tamara.”
The dog sat on his haunches, looking at Nate far too intelligently.
“At least the only thing you’re ever going to get is a few dog treats,” Nate said. “You might even run off, but you probably won’t break her heart when you do it.”
That was something Nate couldn’t bear to do. Hurting Tamara was the last thing in the world he wanted to risk, even if she were willing to try a relationship with him. And that wasn’t happening right now. Not even close. The way she’d stepped back after the photo session spoke volumes.
“Nate? What are you doing out here?”
Nate turned to find Daniel and Travis walking out of the café. The last he’d seen of the two men, they’d been firmly wrapped up in the women they loved, looking as though they might never move from their sides. At the sight of the two guys, Furface scampered off into the dark, disappearing into the shadows where nothing and no one could hurt him. It struck Nate as strange that he didn’t run away when he or Tamara were around.
Nate managed to smile. “I could ask you two the same question. Shouldn’t you both be inside enjoying the party?”
“Amy, Jenn, and Meg started comparing notes,” Daniel said with a smile of his own.
“So we thought it was probably a good moment to leave them to it,” Travis finished for him. “Besides, we saw you out here and thought we’d see what you were up to.”
“Not much,” Nate said. “I was just out here talking to Furface.”
“Furface?” Daniel said, but Nate didn’t want to explain. It felt too private. Something just between him and Tamara.
“He’s a little dog that hangs around here,” Travis said. “I’ve seen him over at Married in Malibu, but he has no respect for security,” he added, laughing. “Although he stays pretty clear of me.”
“He probably has his ‘safe houses,’” Nate joked. “He comes to me just fine.”
Travis laughed. “I’m sure he just recognizes a kindred spirit.”
Nate suddenly wondered if Travis thought he was a single and happy-to-be-fancy-free kind of guy. Did Tamara see him that way too? Like a stray who’d eventually run off?
“Seriously, though,” Daniel said. “What’s up with leaving the party? It was just getting started.”
Nate shook his head. “I haven’t left. I’m just out here to get some air.”
Daniel frowned at that. “Something wrong?”
Nate knew he couldn’t just come out and say it. That wasn’t what guys did. More to the point, they’d probably mention anything he said to Jenn and Amy. Nate knew he couldn’t ask them to start keeping secrets from the women they loved, but it was a sure way for the news to get back to Tamara. So he did the only thing he could—blamed it all on work.
“It’s just this wedding,” Nate said. “With all the preparations, I’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure everything is perfect. There’s no margin for error.”
Travis nodded. “It sounds like a lot, man. I’ve got it fairly easy this time around. A little security on the way to the venue, maybe keeping a few fans out on the day.”
“And the photography is fairly simple,” Daniel said, shrugging.
Nate looked out into the dark. “I’m glad things are simple for somebody. Also, way to rub it in, guys.”
“What we’re trying to say is that if you need anything, we’re here for you,” Travis said.
Daniel nodded. “You’ve helped us out plenty of times. We owe you.”
That was good to hear, and it was even better to know that there were guys out there who had his back. He’d never had that in any of his former jobs. If your code failed to compile properly, or a bug left a backdoor and a hacker got into a system, then it was more about apportioning blame than helping one another out.
“I’ll probably take you guys up on that,” Nate said. “Someone’s going to have to shoot the feed for the wedding while I’m managing the upload. And, Travis, we’ll need to set up the lighting for the whole thing.”
